Rail misery on final weekend of school summer holidays amid fresh wave of strikes - full list of services affected
1 September 2023, 06:27 | Updated: 1 September 2023, 07:36
Rail operators have warned of disruptions to train networks across the UK today as union members are set to walk out again.
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Members of Aslef will walk out for 24 hours on Friday followed by a Saturday ban on members working overtime.
Some 20,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) at 14 operators will also walk out on Saturday amid ongoing disputes over pay.
Northern Avanti West Coast, TransPennine, Southern and Thameslink are among those to offer no services on Friday.
South Western Railway has advised passengers to only travel where “absolutely necessary” on Friday, as most of its network is set to be closed.
Fewer than half of trains will be running across the country on Saturday, as rail chiefs have warned of short-notice cancellations.
See full list of services affected below
The two bouts of strike action coincide final weekend of school summer holidays, with students and teaching staff set to return to schools next Monday 4 September.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "The government appears happy to let passengers, and businesses, suffer in the mistaken belief that they can bully us into submission.
"They don't care about passengers, or Britain's railway, but they will not break us.
"Train drivers at these companies have not had a pay rise for four years, since 2019, while inflation has rocketed."
Mr Whelan also claimed his union has had no contact with the government since January and from rail operators since April.
It comes after Aslex rejected a two-year offer earlier this year which would have seen drivers receive a backdated pay rise of 4% for 2022 and this year.
Rail operators have been hit by waves of strike action since the of summer last year, affecting the country’s leading train operators.
The Rail Delivery Group said Aslef’s strike would cause “more disruption to passengers looking to enjoy the end of the summer holidays”.
"The union leadership has its head in the sand and refuses to put our fair and reasonable offer to their members," a spokesperson said.
They claimed the offer they previously made Aslef would "increase the average driver base salary for a four-day week without overtime from £60,000 to nearly £65,000 by the end of 2023.
“We want to give our staff a pay increase, but it has always been linked to implementing necessary, sensible reforms that would enhance services for our customers.
"We urge the Aslef leadership to acknowledge the substantial financial challenges facing the rail industry and work with us to achieve a more dependable and robust railway system for the future."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "After taxpayers supported rail workers throughout the pandemic, it's frustrating to see both Aslef and RMT coordinate their strikes with the aim of causing as much disruption as possible on the last weekend of the summer holidays."
Mick Whelan said he thought further industrial strike action was “inevitable” - as his union is anticipated to increase its campaign of industrial action this autumn.
RMT is also set to hold a re-ballot on strike action later this year, as its mandate to strike is set to end in November.
Full list of train companies affected:
- Avanti West Coast
- c2c
- Chiltern Railways
- Cross Country Trains
- East Midlands Railway
- Great Western Railway
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- Transpennine Express
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Southern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Great Northern)
